My 4-H Club experiences (1944-1949)

Yesterday I was watching an old movie about kids going to a camp and it brought back so many memories of 4-H camp the summer after I was in the 7th grade. More about my camping experience below. I remember all the fun and learning opportunities of 4-H when we attended monthly meetings at school. We elected officers who had to preside at the meetings. At each meeting there were planned programs and led by students. I remember how we learned to make cottage cheese and I thought it was awful. I had never eaten cottage cheese and wanted no part of that! Another time 2 friends and I shaved left over bars of soap over a period of time and put the shavings in a jar. Then when it was our time to do a demonstration on how to clean a rug, we poured hot water in the soap jar, and made suds; then cleaned one of Miss Jean's beautiful wool rugs. We kept record books of things we did at home and I could never remember to write things down.

In the spring we always went to the county 4-H rally. One year all the clubs from schools in the county gathered at Elba football field for our rally. It was so exciting. There were a lot of relays, ball games, etc. Then we ate our lunch (I think we all brought our own lunch) and then lined up to march downtown to the Elba theater to see the new movie, "Song of the South". I don't think I ever saw a movie that I enjoyed as much as that one. It was in color and the music was beautiful. I loved the Uncle Remus (see photo) tales and mother gave me an Uncle Remus book for Christmas the next year. There were other rallies but this one I remember the best. I remember skipping all the way back to the school bus after the movie.  Check out this great movie, over 60 years old, at http://www.songofthesouth.net/movie/index.html

The summer after I finished 7th grade, a group of my friends from Curtis school and I decided to go to 4-H camp at Lake Tholocco (now a part of Ft Rucker) for 3 days in July. We were given a list of things to bring to camp and I laugh everything I think about this. We slept in an old empty house with some Army cots set up throughout the house. Our meals were cooked outdoors under the big trees and we ate outside. The boys stayed in tents outside. We all lived on farms so we were given a list of food to bring with us: Example - 6 ears of corn, 6 eggs, flour, cornmeal, etc. etc. And a sack of peas or butterbeans. The campers furnished all the food for damp. Don't know about the meat but probably some of the boys furnished that by killing chickens, etc. The highlight of camp was evening vespers after an afternoon swimming in a large pool, and cooling off from the heat, then eating dinner and then going to the large room by the pool and singing songs as we watch the sun set. This was my first camping trip and I really didn't want to go again; too hot, too many insects, not enough sleep, etc.


When I was in the 8th grade, we had lessons on sewing and were encouraged to make a garment. My grandmother Wilson had been teaching me to sew and she said she would help me with this project. I'm the world's greatest procrastinator and put off making my dress until almost time to turn in my project. My Mama Wilson helped me cut out my dress but I didn't have enough fabric in the chicken feed sack fabric so she showed me how to lengthen the skirt with solid fabric inserts. I sewed the dress on a treadle machine (no electric machines back then). Making buttonholes by hand was the hardest part, but I did it. We washed the dress and it rained the day before the contest so I had to dry the dress in front of the fireplace fire. I waited and waited for it to dry so I could starch it and iron it to wear the next day. I wish I had a picture of that dress. I took it on a hanger to school the next day and we attended the competition at the court house in Elba. My face fell when the lst place winner, an older 4-H member from another school walked out in her 2 piece suit, made of beautiful fabric and she had on high heels and makeup. I was not intimidated at all. I was so proud of my dress. Later I learned from the girl's friends that her mother actually made the dress and she went to Montgomery to buy the fabric and it was very expensive. So in my heart I was the winner. I had learned to sew!


The next summer I was selected to be a delegate at the state 4-H camp at Auburn University,  and after that trip I knew I wanted to go to college, and I wanted to go to Auburn. It was a whole new world for me to be on a college campus.


Footnote: I did not go to Auburn but went to Troy State instead, for 1 year, and then got married. Several years later I graduated from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M at Commerce) and got my degree in Home Economics in 1976 when I was 42 years old.

Living in the Frozen North

The past few days have been very, very cold - by Alabama standards that is. You appreciate the mild winters here if you've ever lived in really cold climates. You will have a few cold days here and then it will warm up again. I think the coldest place we ever lived was in Wayzata, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis on Lake Minnetonka. We moved there in May 1977 and bought a house on a hill overlooking marshes and small lakes, and near Lake Minnetonka and Gray's Bay. The first snow fell in October and I don't think we saw the ground again until the next April, when tulips popped up in the snow. What a sight!


I had not experienced ice fishing and all the equipment needed until one Sunday when we were on our way to church, crossing Gray's Bay. It was a bright sunny day and as we looked across the frozen lake, we saw cars and trucks dragging little portable buildings (which looked like outhouses) out onto the lake. As soon as we arrived at church, I asked about these strange buildings and was told that they keep them on the frozen lake from Dec. to about Feb. They use an auger to drill a hole in the ice inside the little fishing houses and fish all winter.

Fish houses on Lake Minnetonka

Fish houses are like giant playhouses. People decorate them with rugs on the floor. While many houses look like shacks, some fish houses are almost like real houses, complete with armchairs, television, VCR, microwave oven, kitchen stove, and even a bathroom. Those made with wooden boards or metal and look like cabins. Those made with canvas and aluminum poles look like tents. To heat either kind of house, anglers use small stoves. Fish houses have skis or special plates on the bottom so they can be slid across ice. The owner ties a heavy rope to the house and tows it with a truck or all-terrain vehicle. The houses usually stay in the same spot all winter.

You might recallthe movie "Grumpy Old Men", with Walter Matthau sitting on an easy chair in his fishing hut, a six-pack chilling in the ice hole. Our neighbor, the big Swede named John Lindgren, invited us to his ice house. I was afraid to ride in his big pick-up across the ice to his house so I never went inside his fish house.

The bank in the village of Wayzata where we lived had a place where you could guess what day the ice would start "breaking" on the lake and this was called "ice out". The person closest to the date and time of day won the jackpot. Kinda like when we guess when the temperature will reach 100 degrees.

We never went ice fishing the two winters we lived there but did learn to cross country ski and that was a lot of fun. The parks and golf courses became ski trails in the winter. You just bundled up and went outside in the winter and had fun! After all, it never rained for several months and the snow was dry and packed. April and May it started melting and that was a mess!

My voting record

What happened on this day in 1959 (48 years ago) during Eisenhower's administration?
 (see end of article for answer)    I voted for the first time in 1956, during Eisenhower's 2nd term. You had to be 21 to vote then and I was almost 22. We were living in Kansas and toured his birthplace home in Dennison, TX in the summer of 1956. I remember Mamie's bangs (or "fringe" as they call bangs in England).

The next time we voted we were living in our first home on Country Lane in Atlanta, GA (near Decatur). It was cold and snowing election day 1960. We waited in line outside the school building and I remember how cold my feet were. We laughed when we got home and discovered that we had canceled each others vote, voting for different candidates! I was happy that my candidate won.


In subsequent years we voted in elections for LB Johnson, Richard Nixon in 2 elections, (succeeded by Gerald Ford). Then we voted for Jimmy Carter twice but he lost the second time to Ronald Reagan. We voted for Reagan the next election, followed by George Bush. Then we voted for Bill Clinton 2 times and twice for George W. Bush.

James votes

So we have voted in 13 presidential elections. Today Jim and I reminisced about each of these and where we were living, etc. We take voting very serious and have taught our children to do the same. Our son James listens to the candidates and decides who he wants to vote for and he gets up early on voting day to go cast his vote (with assistance from me or his dad). And when his candidate wins he is so excited. He has really been following the candidates the past few weeks and plans to watch the caucus reports from Iowa tonight. He keeps telling us that he is voting for Hillary! We haven't made up our minds yet.
      Answer to question at top of page: Alaska was admitted as a state on Jan. 3, 1956 by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Happy New Year to all in 2008

New Year Promises (Resolutions) 2008 -This year I am going to make “promises for the new year ” instead of resolutions. I got this idea from our church monthly bulletin.


I don’t like to make lists but prefer to do things spontaneously or when the mood strikes. As a result I always have unfinished projects which drives Jim crazy. So I think that if I make some promises I will do better. And I don’t have to “cross them off” when finished.


There were 8 promises in our church bulletin to help us get started. I liked all of them but am including only 5 here:
1) Promise to make all my friends feel that there is something special about them. This will be easy for me since my friends are already special . I look for their good qualities and overlook things about them I don’t like. I have lots of friends, all ages and various backgrounds.


2) Promise to wear a cheerful expression at all times and give every person I meet a smile. I have practiced this for a long time and it’s fun to smile at “grumpy” people and let them wonder why you are so happy! Soon they will be smiling back at you.


3) Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own. To me this is a lot like ‘it is more blessed to give than receive’; let them have the credit.


4) Promise to look at the sunny side of everything, and make my optimism come true   Jim calls me the “eternal optimist”. I always look on the bright side.


5) And this is a really big one for me to accomplish -     Promise to be too large for worry, to noble for anger, too strong to fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble in my life. I try not to worry too much. Jim has dubbed me “Scarlet” because he says my motto is “I’ll think about that tomorrow!” I can handle anger ok and am not fearful, just careful. But I do have a problem with letting trouble cloud my thoughts. Especially when it’s something I can’t do anything about, i.e., the health problems of our son James.


Sure there are things I want to accomplish in 2008, and will work toward accomplishing them. But if I don’t succeed, I’ll try again another year. I never give up. I just keep trying, and trying, and trying.


My goals for the New Year also include taking care of myself through better nutrition, better physical fitness, and getting plenty of rest.


Last year at the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet, I was given the “Spirit of Elba:” award. I accepted that honor with pleasure as it exemplifies my nature – to make our little town a better place for everybody to live.

James and his Clubhouse

Today's post features James, our middle son, who is 51 and lives at home.   His mental age is around 6 so he is very limited in things he can do. But he has good social skills and is pretty independent and wants to be left alone when he is at home. We have provided him with a place for him to go and enjoy his hobbies. When we moved to Elba in Nov 2003, we bought a storage building and created a "get away" place for him. It is well insulated and easy to heat and cool. He spends a lot of time in his "club house" which is just outside the back door, beside the porch.
Take a look at what's inside.....

This daybed also has a trundle bed. When our son Bill comes for a visit, he likes to sleep here. When we were putting Christmas decorations away recently, James wanted to keep the outdoor Santa in his clubhouse.

On the other side of the room is a table where he sits to work on his baseball collection. The cards are stored in the large plastic tubs underneath the table (usually one or more boxes is emptied on the floor where he likes to look at them). We help him clean up occasionally, so he can get around in the room!

At the end of the room is a book shelf with his vast train and railroad book collection. He has lots of trains and accessories and some are shown here on the top shelves.

There's a media area in one corner of the room. He has cable TV, a stereo system to play his records, radio and tape player & CD player. He has a big collection of LP records.

Rain, Rain, Go Away (for awhile)

Last night I woke up to bright flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder rumbling. I got up and looked outside and it had been raining and we had a "lake" in our back yard. Thunderstorms are uncommon in December, although December is traditionally a wet month in this area. It has been raining now every day for almost a week and I feel like my skin will mildew if the rain doesn't clear up soon.


I've been looking at seed catalogs and alarmed at the price of seeds. I'm glad I saved red and lavendar hibiscus and yellow coreposis seeds, along with Black Eyed Susans, last summer to have a head start. Perinneals will need dividing so I will have enough to keep me busy in February and March.

My Master Gardening classmates from last fall are offering to help me with the landscaping and planting trees, as well as restoring two brick planters left at the site of the old school, and planting perennials in them.
We will fill these with yellow coreopsis and black eyed Susans and some tall zebra cannas in the center - to provide orange and yellow flowers all summer. We have to have 40 hours of volunteer work to complete our Master Gardener course and receive our badge.I can provide my classmates with volunteer hours.
Recently I applied for a grant to get some more trees to plant at the playground and received $700. Wade Wise from Wade's Nursery and I are working on a landscaping plan and will get some more trees early in January. My MG classmates will help with this project. Someday "Tiger Town Park" will be a real showplace in downtown Elba. And I will be happy to have been a part of this.

Tribute to Uncle Marty on his 90th birthday

Tomorrow, Dec. 30, Uncle Martin John Koomen (Marty) will be 90. It seems like yesterday when Aunt Nellie Faye (Smith) brought Uncle Marty to Elba, AL to meet her family in 1947. She and Uncle Marty met in Washington, DC when they were working for the Govt. during WWII. They were married Dec. 6, 1946 in Washington, DC. Uncle Marty's parents emigrated from The Hague, the Netherlands and settled near Rochester, NY. He was born 30 Dec 1917 in Pittsford (Monroe Co) NY. He worked for the Naval Research Lab. in Washington, DC until he retired and then he continued working there until he was in his 80's. After Aunt Nellie Faye died from cancer on Jan. 6, 1985. Later he sold their beautiful home in Fairfax, VA and now resides in Greensprings Retirement Home in Springfield, VA.


Marty and Faye had two sons: Stephen Dane Koomen (16 Feb 1949-12 Oct 1977) and William Neal Koomen (see photo at end of page). Steve went west and settled on Orcas Island, WA. A Christmas card from Aunt Faye with this photo of her and Uncle Marty was taken at Orcas Island in April 1976 when they went to visit Steve, before he died from stomach cancer the next year.



The next photo was taken in AL in 1980 when they were visiting relatives in the Elba area. We loved for Uncle Marty and Aunt Nellie Faye to come to Ala to visit. It was an occasion for all of my mother's brothers and sisters to get together and Mama and Papa Smith were always so glad to see everybody. I remember the first time they met Marty. In was the summer of 1947, 6 months after they were married. They came by train to Montgomery and then by Greyhound bus to Danley's Cross Roads where Mama and Papa Smith were living (near Liberty Church). We knew the time of their arrival and I remember riding in a wagon down the red clay road about 1/2 mile with my Papa to meet the bus and flag him down so he would stop and let my aunt and uncle get off. She didn't know where her parents were living since they had moved to the country from Elba. It's a good thing we were in the wagon since they had lots of luggage and it was a hot July day. I don't know if this was Uncle Marty's first trip to Ala or to the south. I wonder what he was thinking that day!! I was 12 years old and had gone to help Mama and Papa Smith "get ready" for company. We all like Uncle Marty and he was so handsome. He liked to take pictures and would have them printed and send us some. We didn't have a camera. Later he would make slides and we were introduced to "slide shows" by Uncle Marty on return visits. When I graduated from high school in 1952, I went by Greyhound bus from Elba to Washington, DC and spent the summer with Aunt Faye and Uncle Marty and their little son Steve. I worked that summer at the Navy Hydrographic Office in Suitland, MD and saved all of my checks for college that fall. Uncle Marty and Aunt Faye are very special to me.
This photo of James and Uncle Marty was taken in Washington, DC in December 1983, at the home of Al and Chris. We were living in Winston-Salem and spent Christmas with Al and Chris. Uncle Marty's hair was changing from black to silver by this time.


Uncle Marty has been at many of our family gatherings over the years. The photo at the top, at age 78, is when he was attending my sister Judy's 50th birthday on Jan. 1, 1995 in Fayetteville, NC. I bet he has enjoyed watching all 7 of our family grow up. Judy was only 1 year old when they got married and Alice and Carolyn came along later. Now they are all married and have children and most have grandchildren. Wow! That's a long time.


Here are photos of Uncle Marty's son Bill Koomen and daughters Emily and Elise. The other photo is his wife Germaine. They live in Newburyport, MA.


Uncle Marty's niece Patti (Knudson) and her husband Bob Towsley live in Alexandria, VA and they will have a birthday dinner for Uncle Marty tomorrow at their home. Bob and Patti visit him often and Uncle Marty is lucky to have them around. Wish we could be there to help him celebrate. Bob used to work with Uncle Marty at the Naval Research Laboratory.